


Back From The Cusp Of... Something

by CookieCatSU



Category: Fable 3 (Video Game)
Genre: Fix-it fic, Happy Ending, M/M, Major Character Undeath, So i had to write this, The Hero can be male or female, The ending of Fable 3 just killed me, Walter just be living like nothing happened, major character death is referenced, or neither, whatever you like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25764955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieCatSU/pseuds/CookieCatSU
Summary: People came back from the cusp of death all the time. Nothing new there.Jasper absolutely wasn't phased, when Walter suddenly returned to him out the blue. Not at all.
Relationships: Walter Beck/Jasper
Kudos: 11





	Back From The Cusp Of... Something

People came back from the cusp of death all the time. Nothing new there.

Jasper absolutely wasn't phased, when he found Wallace seated at his kitchen table, nearly 3 months after he watched Albion's most beloved hero shoot him in the head.

He only drops the teapot in his hands, because his gloves were slippery with dust. Absolutely. His quarters were just so dusty, because he hasn't gotten around to cleaning them in months. Unavoidable, considering his near constant deployment in the Sanctuary. 

The dusty, fragile teapot shatters on the floor upon impact. He hardly even notices, mouth half agape.

"I-I uh… you, you were dead-" Jasper sputters out rather eloquently, hand hovering clasped at his chest.

His heart is pounding. He'd hoped for this moment, if he's being truthful, hoped though he knew it was pointless, and now, well it feels impossibly _unreal_. It can't be real.

Wallace grins, and the gesture is heart wrenchingly familiar, so unbelievably _normal_.

"Jasper, you old boy, I missed ya!" And he envelopes Jasper in a bone crushing hug, lifting him off the floor with a scruff laugh, swinging him around as if he'd been the one to die.

To leave, so suddenly.

Jasper taps him on the arm several times, and Wallace, eventually, puts him down, though not without a short huff of laughter.

"I-" Jasper clears his throat, suddenly swamped with so many things he wants to say. Finally, "I missed you too"

And he's absolutely not tearing up when he says that.

Just a bit of dust in his eyes, is all.

Bloody dust.

* * *

"How? How could this have possibly happened, Walter?"

He shrugs.

"I dunno" He says, "I'm dying. I can finally see the light again, the glorious, glorious light, and then I close my eyes, and everything goes white... It's blinding, but in a good way. Kind of like staring into the sun. And then I'm waking up in a gutter in Bowerstone like weeks old trash"

"That's not possible" Jasper exclaims, rather indignantly, because there were ways of the world and this wasn't one of them. Dead people stayed dead. Unless they became Hollowmen, Jasper supposed, but could those creatures even be considered alive? Or human?

Miracles like this didn't happen, and certainly not to people like Jasper. To suddenly have his best friend, his closest confidant, his lover, returned to him as if he'd never left just seemed… too good to be true. 

It was, too good to be true.

"And yet, here we are" Wallace smirks, clapping the smaller man on the back, and Jasper just barely allows himself to smile.

He clasps his hands in his lap, thumbs brushing together, feeling particularly warm, "Yes, here we are"

A beat of silence. It is comfortable and warm, like woolen blankets and the heat of the castles furnace on chilly, dark nights. It is companionable because Jasper is beside his greatest companion, (laughing next to him, not in a mahogany box six feet under).

"You know what's truly impossible" Wallace asks after a moment, but he's answering his own question before Jasper has the chance to reply.

"That you could get any more bald. Or handsome"

He grins like an idiot. Jasper wishes he could wipe the look off his face, so smugly satisfied. He reaches his hand up to touch at the scantily haired top of his head, and fixes Wallace with a scowl.

"Oh, don't be like that. It's such a refined, distinguished look. It really fits you"

It's too good to be true. But Jasper hopes anyway, because what does he have anymore beside hope?

"Wait until you start balding" Jasper replies with a sniff and a turn of his head, "Then we'll see who's talking"

"Me. Still me"

* * *

"Are you keeping our little one in check?" Walter asks, elbows leant up across Jasper's little coffee table. He sounds nostalgic, almost.

"Naturally. And might I say, it is no easy feat" He pauses, "They are quite reckless… and they absolutely get it from you"

Walter let's out a bellowing laugh. "Don't blame me"

"Says the one who gave them a sword, told them to go 'be a Hero' and 'save the land', and then subsequently rushed off to wage a war on the most powerful force in Albion" and died, too, but there was no point in bringing that up right now.

"Whoever could that have been? Someone needs to give that sod a pat on the back"

* * *

"Is anybody aware of your… sudden awakening?" Jasper asks.

Walter shakes his head. "No one but you. Haven't even told the majesty yet, but I will soon"

"They'll be quite relieved to hear you've returned, but… perhaps I should broach the subject with them first, hmm? I don't think you suddenly appearing before them without any warning and scaring them half to death, like you did to me, is imperative"

"Scare them?"

"You were dead, as far as anyone knew, mere days ago. Now you're alive again. I'm certain that fact could be disorienting to anyone, even a Hero"

"Good point. Let me know when they're ready to see me"

Jasper nods, briefly.

"And perhaps, we should keep this between us, otherwise. At least for now"

Walter nods as well, "Oh yes. The whole world just isn't ready to know about Sir Walter's miraculous comeback" He says, quoting it like a particularly interesting book title.

"Yes, I suppose the world does need a break from you"

* * *

"So uh… Can I hang out in the Sanctuary with you? I don't have any knightly duties stopping me any more"

Jasper's hand stills mid-motion, and he shakes his head, "What? Absolutely not. It'd at least have to wait until I informed the Crown of your return, and on top of that, you'd only succeed in distracting me from _my_ _duties_ within the Sanctuary, which, need I remind you, keep the place running smoothly" 

"Come on, Jasper. I'll be good"

"No. I'm not allowing it and that is final"

It happens anyway, of course. And Jasper, for all he complains, doesn't truly mind. 

Having good company is nice.

And Wallace is, undoubtably, good company.


End file.
